Imagination Technologies

Imagination Technologies Group plc
Public company
Traded as LSE: IMG
Industry Technology
Founded 1985 (1985)
Headquarters Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
Key people
 Peter Hill (Chairman)
Dr. Leo Li (CEO)
Guy Millward (CFO)
Revenue £120.0 million (2016)[1]
£(61.5) million (2016)[1]
£(80.6) million (2016)[1]
Divisions PowerVR, Ensigma, IMGWorks, IMGSystems
Website imgtec.com

Imagination Technologies Group plc is a British-based technology company, focusing on semiconductor and related intellectual property licensing. It markets PowerVR mobile graphics processors, MIPS embedded microprocessors, and for its Pure consumer electronics division. It also supplies radio baseband processing, networking, digital signal processor, video and audio hardware, voice over IP software, cloud computing and silicon and system design services. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Canyon Bridge in November 2017.

History

The company was founded in 1985 by Tony Maclaren, and subsequently led by him as Group Chief Executive, as VideoLogic[2] and originally focused on graphics, sound acceleration, home audio systems, video-capture and video-conferencing systems.[3] It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in July 1994.[4] The following year it entered into a licensing agreement over its PowerVR technology with NEC (now Renesas) who took a 2.29% stake in the Company for £1.6 million and acquired the rights to manufacture and sell the chip.[5] On 2 December 1997, NEC subscribed 2.3 million (1.5%) new shares at a price of 56.5p, taking its total stake to 3.5%.[6] In 1999, the Company refocused on intellectual property licensing generally and changed its name to Imagination Technologies.[3]

Since the 1990s, VideoLogic has provided chips for digital television set-top boxes,[7] and is a member of the Digital TV Group.[8] During the late 1990s to 2000s, Sega used VideoLogic chips for the Dreamcast home video game console and several Sega arcade systems. Namco also used PowerVR chips for the Namco System 23 arcade system board in the late 1990s.

On 23 March 2000, Imagination Technologies acquired Ensigma, a private company specialising in Digital Signal Processing, for a maximum consideration of £5 million.[9] On 26 September 2001, Imagination Technologies acquired Cross Products Limited, a company designing and producing development tools for META DSP IP cores and Renesas's SuperH architecture processors under CodeScape brand, for £4.2 million.[10]

In October 2006, Intel Corporation acquired a 2.9% stake in Imagination Technologies for £5.28 million.[11] On 24 November 2008, Imagination Technologies announced a license agreement it signed with a new partner, then undisclosed, for a high-performance version of its PowerVR SGX graphics processor chip: this was later revealed to be Apple Inc.[12] In December 2008, Apple Inc purchased a 3.6% stake in the company for £3.2 million.[12]

In June 2009, it was announced that Intel's stake had increased to 14% after it had acquired 25 million shares.[13] One week later, Intel acquired another 5 million shares from the Saad Group (based in Saudi Arabia), and its shareholding rose to 16.02%.[14] Days later, Apple Inc announced it had subscribed for 2.2m new shares at 142.75p each and made market purchases of another 11.52 million shares, raising its stake to 9.5%;[15] Saad Group, who had held 44.6 million shares i.e. 20.3% of the Company as at 30 June 2008, was thought to be the vendor of these shares, and had been reportedly forced to divest after its bank froze its accounts.[16]

On 17 November 2010, Imagination Technologies announced its intention to acquire HelloSoft, one of the world’s leading providers of Video and Voice over Internet Protocol and wireless LAN technologies, for a maximum consideration of $47 million.[17] On 14 December 2010, Imagination Technologies acquired Caustic Graphics, developer of hardware/software real-time ray-tracing graphics technology which was founded by a group of former Apple engineers, for $27 million.[18] On 14 December 2011, Imagination Technologies announced that it had signed a licensing agreement with Qualcomm. The company signed an agreement for the display IP from its PowerVR portfolio.[19]

On 3 January 2012, Imagination Technologies announced that it will invest totalling £5 million, in Toumaz Microsystems, a wireless intercom spinout of Toumaz Ltd., and will own 25% of the business.[20] In June 2012, Imagination Technologies acquired Nethra Imaging, a semiconductor and systems company focused on delivering video and imaging solutions.[21] As of November 2012, over 1 billion SOC units had shipped containing cores developed by Imagination Technologies.[22] On 17 December 2012, Imagination Technologies beat Ceva Inc in the race to buy processor technology firm MIPS Technologies with a knockout offer of $100 million.[23] On 29 December 2012 its Chief Executive Officer, Hossein Yassaie, was awarded a knighthood in the 2013 New Year Honours. The award was given in recognition of his services to technology and innovation.[24]

On 8 February 2016, Imagination Technologies announced that Sir Hossein Yassaie had stepped down from the company after 18 years as CEO.[25] Imagination Technologies had seen over 40 percent of its market value lost in the past few months, and over 85 percent since it peaked in 2012, due to its dependence on Apple which had seen slowing iPhone sales. [26] Andrew Heath, a member of Imagination's board of directors and former director of Rolls-Royce, was appointed as interim chief executive before taking the role on a permanent basis on 26 May 2016.[25] Additionally, Imagination announced a restructuring program to cut costs by £15m in the next financial year, and announced its intention to sell its Pure digital radio division.[25]

In March 2016, Apple considered buying Imagination Technologies but ended up never making a formal offer. From 2015-17, despite retaining the licensing agreement, Apple engineered a "brain drain" of Imagination Technologies's personnel, including engineers and executives. Apple also established a new office for chip development in St Albans, close to Imagination Technologies headquarters.[27]

On 3 April 2017, Imagination Technologies' stock prices fell by 70% after it reported that Apple planned to stop using its intellectual property within its system-on-chips within the next two years. Apple accounted at the time for more than half of the company's revenue.[28] The following month, Imagination Technologies announced that it would enter into a dispute resolution process seeking that Apple license its intellectual property, arguing that Apple "has not presented any evidence to substantiate its assertion that it will no longer require Imagination’s technology, without violating Imagination’s patents, intellectual property, and confidential information". The company also announced that it would sell its MIPS and Ensigma businesses.[29][30]

On 15 May 2017, Sondrel announced it had signed an agreement to acquire the IMG Works division.[31]

On 22 June 2017, Imagination Technologies' board of directors announced it was putting the entire company up for sale[32] and, on 25 September 2017, the board of directors announced that the company was being acquired by Canyon Bridge, a China-aligned private equity fund.[33] In November 2017 the sale to Canyon Bridge was approved in a transaction which valued the business at £550 million (£1.82 per share).[34][35]

Operations and products

The company has several activities:[36]

Semiconductor intellectual property

Consumer electronics

  • Pure (formerly VideoLogic) - DAB radios, wireless speaker systems

System on Chip

  • IMGWorks - SoC design and software integration services

Software services

  • FlowTalk VoIP and VoLTE software development kits

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Annual Report 2016" (PDF). Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  2. ↑ "Videologic". Chennelweb. 10 December 1997. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  3. 1 2 Analyst Report 9 July 2008
  4. ↑ London Stock Exchange Archived 29 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ NEC Announces Investment in VideoLogic; Companies Sign Joint Development and License Agreement on Advanced 3D Games and Virtual Reality Technology Business Wire, 27 March 1995
  6. ↑ NEC ups Videologic stake, Computer Business Review, 2 December 1997
  7. ↑ "The Investment Column: Imagination Technologies". The Independent. 10 November 1999. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  8. ↑ "Digital Television Group". Imagination Community. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  9. ↑ "Imagination Technologies Buys Ensigma". imgtec.com (Press release). January 11, 2001. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  10. ↑ "Imagination Technologies buys Cross Products". Investegate.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  11. ↑ "Intel invests $9.88 million in PowerVR producer". Register Hardware. 2 October 2006.
  12. 1 2 Athow, Desire (21 December 2008). "Why Has Apple Invested In Imagination's PowerVR?". itproportal.com.
  13. ↑ "Intel boosts stake to 14%". Bloomberg. 18 June 2009.
  14. ↑ Fletcher, Nick (23 June 2009). "Intel raises stake in UK chip group Imagination". The Guardian. London.
  15. ↑ Fletcher, Nick (June 2009). "Imagination Technologies up as Apple stake hits 9.5%". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
  16. ↑ Marshall, Rosalie (26 June 2009). "Apple follows Intel in grabbing extra Imagination stake". V3.co.uk.
  17. ↑ Imagination Technologies targets HelloSoft in move to bolster technology base Stockopedia, 17 November 2010
  18. ↑ Imagination Technologies acquires Caustic Graphics Vizworld, 14 December 2010
  19. ↑ Sylvie Barak, EE Times. "Qualcomm becomes Imagination Technologies licensee." 14 December 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  20. ↑ Imagination Technologies buys into Toumaz Tech Eye, 3 January 2012
  21. ↑ "From UK-Analyst.com: Thursday 13 September 2012". UK-Analyst.com. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
  22. ↑ "Over 1 billion units shipped by Imagination partners". Imagination Technologies. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  23. ↑ "Imagination Tech to buy MIPS Tech for $100M". Associated Press. 17 December 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
  24. ↑ "The New Year Honours Lists 2013". UK Government. 29 December 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  25. 1 2 3 "Pure radio up for sale as Imagination Technologies' boss departs". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-02-08.
  26. ↑ "Imagination Technologies share price drops as chief executive Sir Hossein Yassaie leaves and chip maker sells Pure | City A.M". City A.M. 2016-02-08. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  27. ↑ Kif Leswing Oct. 13, 2016, 10:46 AM 9,740 (2016-10-13). "Apple poaches Imagination Technologies COO". Business Insider. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  28. ↑ "Imagination Technologies' shares plunge after Apple ends contract". BBC News. Retrieved April 5, 2017.
  29. ↑ "iPhone graphics supplier to sell off businesses amid patent battle with Apple". The Verge. Vox Media. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  30. ↑ "Imagination to Double-Down on GPU Business, MIPS and Ensigma to Be Sold". Anandtech. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  31. ↑ "Sondrel Agrees to Acquire IMG Works Division of Imagination Technologies". Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  32. ↑ Smith, Ryan (22 June 2017). "Imagination Technologies Formally Puts Itself Up for Sale". Anandtech. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  33. ↑ "Brit chip design company Imagination Tech sold to China-linked private equity". The Register. 25 September 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  34. ↑ Fildes, Nic (4 Nov 2017), "Imagination Technologies deal ends run as UK's bright spark", www.ft.com
  35. ↑ Martin, Ben (2 Nov 2017), "Canyon Bridge bid for Imagination Technologies approved by UK court", www.reuters.com
  36. ↑ "Annual Report 2014" (PDF). Retrieved 28 March 2015.

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